


Clawing Our Way Forward

by thecert (certs_up)



Category: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 02:09:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/certs_up/pseuds/thecert
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nia has become a messenger for the Anti-Spirals. How can teeth and claws compensate for what she was to Simon?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clawing Our Way Forward

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rayne (FreezingRayne)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreezingRayne/gifts).



> I'd never contemplated participating in Yuletide until a friend's enthusiasm drew me in. Doing this as last-minute fill more or less grabbed me; the fic shows signs of being composed in haste, but I'm glad to have given Viral a chance to be harsh and caring at the same time.

"Stop it, Viral. Just stop."

Viral halted in mid-gesture. He was kneeling over Simon's bare back, which he'd been rubbing--carefully, using his knuckles. He'd thought he was pretty good at it, all things considered: that the entire concept of "back rubs" was rather new to him; that he'd been taught how by someone with those absurd excuses for claws that humans called "nails"; that it wasn't his idea of foreplay at all. Evidently at the moment it wasn't Simon's either.

"So what's wrong? Are my knuckles too sharp for you, too?"

Simon turned to make eye contact with an uncharacteristically bitter grin. "I want them, Viral. I want you to use your claws."

Viral gave him a blank, somewhat shocked stare. His first thought was, _Who the hell do you think I am--General Adiane? Who the hell--?_

_Who the hell do you want me to be?_

Viral knew perfectly well that in this context he was, in fact, a stand-in, and a rather poor one, for Nia. The skirmish against the Anti-Spirals had had a one-step-forward-two-steps-back quality. Yes, they'd eliminated the fake moon as a menace to the Earth, and in the process Simon had worked his incomprehensible verbal magic against the sleek, black-clad _thing_ Viral found difficult to think of as Nia. After that brief and frustrating glimpse she was gone again, leaving Simon to fight a war on two fronts: defeat the Anti-Spirals, and retrieve--redeem--Nia as their messenger.

Actually, there was a third front to Simon's private war, and that was coping with the loss--no, the absence--of someone so important. It was a face he didn't show to most of Team Dai-Gurren: after all, as leader he had to set the example of upstanding morale and unshakable hope. But when Viral chanced on him in a moment of solitude, he'd found Simon looking particularly glum. It wasn't the look of a man apprehensive about battle. It was the look of a man who was missing something, and Viral, after some hesitation, had put a hand on his shoulder. He'd been surprised when that rather understated contact had gotten him led to the commander's private quarters, and things had escalated--or devolved, depending on how you looked at it--with surprising rapidity. It occurred to Viral that he'd gotten roped into this sudden intimacy simply because he was an outsider. Simon couldn't do this with someone who'd gotten to know him as a courageous and forward-looking commander, but Viral, who'd essentially wandered in from nowhere, didn't bring that particular baggage.

Even if he had, he might have kicked it aside. He'd gotten damned horny over the past seven years. Even under less pressing conditions, he liked his sex a bit more forceful. But now--

"Like this?" he said, uncurling a single taloned finger and stroking a claw-tip down Simon's back. It made a bloodless streak of pink.

Simon pillowed his head on his crossed arms, closing his eyes. "Harder."

_Will this make you harder, Simon?_ Viral spread all his fingers, half-curled them, raked down Simon's spine. Tiny beadlets of blood emerged from the four reddened rows.

"More, Viral." There was pain in Simon's voice, but no hesitation.

"Listen, you naked monkey, I've got nothing to gain by disabling you. Not with a battle coming up." _Besides, it would get me lynched._

"You won't, Viral. Please--I need the pain, just do more like that, please, Viral, it'll be ffff--"

Simon's words were cut off as Viral raked with his claws again, lower this time, one hand working a series of short, quick strokes that truly drew blood while the other pinned Simon's shoulder. Not that Simon showed any signs of struggling: he lay perfectly still, gasping occasionally as Viral worked his way down, marking the pale buttocks, the muscular thighs. Viral could smell the blood now--it was running, thin rivulets staining the sheet. He slid a hand up Simon's thigh, smearing it with sticky red.

"More, Viral." It was only a whisper, but when Viral remained unmoving, Simon added, "Don't stop."

Viral lapped the blood on Simon's back and buttocks, carefully running his claw-tips across the bloody tracks he'd made. He worked an arm under Simon, flipped him over, and, before Simon could do more than look startled, began chewing one nipple while working his claws into the other. Simon gasped and clutched Viral's head; after a few breaths, he managed to squeeze out a wheezy "Yes--!"

The blood tasted so wonderful and warm. Viral alternated licking and biting; he had to be careful not to do more than draw blood. Simon might not mind losing a nipple now, but he'd probably feel differently about it in the morning. Simon's fingers dug into his scalp, their tips soft and blunt. With his tongue, Viral worked his way up--up over muscles that tensed under his touch, up to Simon's shoulder, where he used his teeth again in a series of measured bites, just hard enough to let blood seep onto his tongue again and again. His hand had forgotten Simon's nipple and was under Simon's back, claws once more digging in.

Simon's hands had moved to Viral's back, and now Simon wrapped a leg around Viral's, pressing a firm erection near Viral's own. "This is so good, Viral." It was a pained whisper, but it was clear he meant every word. "Don't stop. I need more. I need more of you in me. I need--"

"Lube," Viral said, but Simon pulled him close with a strength that forced a sudden huff from his lungs.

"No. _No._ Don't go anywhere, don't change anything, just--here--" Simon writhed underneath him, squirming his way up or pressing Viral down--Viral didn't know which, didn't care--drew his knees up, maneuvered his ass as near as he could to the tip of Viral's cock. Simon's haste notwithstanding, Viral spat into his hand and gave his erection a quick rub with the result, did the same with his knuckle and Simon's ass (because this really was where he drew the line in terms of both blood and pain; who the hell did Simon think he was?), then spread Simon's legs open, wincing at the glimpse he got of his bloody handiwork before he pressed a cock that was a bit too dry into an opening that was more than a bit too tight--and even as Simon cried out, grimacing, those legs clamped onto him, pulling him forward.

They were both panting hard by the time Viral had worked his way fully in. Simon hadn't been the only one who found the experience painful. But the pain was fading now--evidently for Simon too, since his face was slowly relaxing into something closer to a hollow stare. It was a bit of a stretch, but Viral licked his cheek. Simon actually smiled.

"Are you going to come inside me?"

"I'd better, after all that," Viral growled. Simon's smile grew warmer, and he wrapped his arms around Viral in a hug.

"Let's do it, Viral."

It wasn't one of Viral's more comfortable couplings, but having spent several years in the desert with nothing more fuckable than the occasional grape-hippo made this a surprisingly quick lay. Simon's erection remained standing forlornly between them, and once Viral had caught his breath, he wrapped a hand around Simon's shaft and jerked him off--quickly, before Simon could ask him to use teeth or claws on _that_.

They lay together then, the sheets and their bodies a bloodstained, tangled mess. Viral unthinkingly slid a hand behind Simon's back to pull him closer, but drew away when Simon winced at the contact with his wounds.

"That's going to hurt like a bastard for a while, you know," Viral said quietly.

"I know," Simon said. "But Viral, it's _good_ pain. One time I asked Kamina if it didn't hurt when he got those tattoos he had all over. And he told me, 'Pain just tells a man he's alive!'" Simon grinned, and Viral suddenly realized that that was how most people probably thought of him: wearing a boyish grin, daring the world to look him in the eye. "And when he punched me out because I got scared, I guess I saw it then. Pain isn't always bad. It really does remind you that you're alive."

Viral grunted. "More likely it just makes your adrenalin kick in. You'd heal faster after a few cups of coffee than after getting bloodied like that."

Simon laughed despite himself. "Cut it out, Viral." Then he grew serious. "I am healing now. It hurt so much to see Nia disappear again. It's so _wrong_ that's she's been ... I don't even know what to call it. How can you chase after something if you don't even know what it is, if you don't know _where_ it is? But I've got to, and I'm going to."

"You knew that all along. You didn't need me slashing to you ribbons to figure that out."

"Maybe my brain didn't need it, but I think my body did." Rather to Viral's surprise, Simon suddenly kissed him. "I love Nia so much, and it hurt so much when she disappeared. And my body remembered loving her, but it couldn't understand the pain without feeling it. Now it's like my body's got a way of understanding my brain--they have the same feeling joining them, so they can work together."

"You're like Gurren and Lagann," Viral said, his tone unusually thoughtful.

"I'm not the only one like Gurren and Lagann," said Simon, now grinning again. "Just who the hell do you think _we_ are?"


End file.
